Colin Touchin
Colin Touchin is a leading conductor and music educator. He was Director of Music at the University of Warwick for over fourteen years, and conducted several ensembles, including the Chamber Choir which won many International awards, and the Symphonic Wind Ensemble which gained Gold at the National Concert Band Festival. Previously he was Head of Composition at Chetham’s Specialist School of Music in Manchester, where for eight years he also taught clarinet, recorder, and chamber music, and conducted the Classical Orchestra and founded the Wind Orchestra.
As conductor, he established Warwick Orchestral Winds (originally Midlands Wind Orchestra), the National Youth Recorder Orchestras (NYRO), and the Spires Philharmonic Chorus, Orchestra and Youth Orchestra based in Coventry. He has conducted the National Youth Wind Orchestras of Great Britain, Luxembourg, Wales and Hong Kong; at the Birmingham Conservatoire he has conducted the Junior Orchestra, Wind Band and Sinfonia; for nine years he was a regular conductor at the Dartington International Summer School.
Colin has taught, conducted, and given workshops for students and teachers in 22 countries and is in demand to coach conductors and teachers in ensemble-training skills. A frequent visitor to Hong Kong since 1996, he made this his main home since 2014 where his work includes conducting Tak-Ming Philharmonic Winds, Grace Notes (a cappella ensemble of Hong Kong Ladies Choir), HK Welsh Male Voice Choir and the City Chamber Orchestra of HK. He presents weekly programmes on RTHK Radio 4 featuring chamber, choral and wind band music, and other topics.
His current positions also include the post of Chief Conductor of the Lufthansa Orchestra based in Frankfurt. Pre-Covid Colin spent a good deal of time happily travelling between Asia and the UK, working extensively as conductor, teacher and adjudicator in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Australia and Europe. He has been an adjudicator member of the British and International Federation of Festivals (BIFF) for over 40 years and served as Vice-Chairman. He has also been Chairman of the British Association of Symphonic Bands and Wind Ensembles (BASBWE).
He writes several commissioned works per year and his compositions have been broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and local TV and radio; Eclipse for wind band was a featured work of the Hong Kong Music Festival in 2013 and subsequently broadcast. Spires Philharmonic Chorus & Orchestra have recorded a CD of his music.